Young people living in poverty are more likely to feel like failures and suffer mental health problems than their more affluent classmates, according to a report.

Almost three in 10 (29%) of 16 to 19-year-olds growing up in poverty do not feel optimistic about the future, compared with just over a fifth (22%) of their wealthier peers, the survey conducted by The Children’s Society found.

Some 22% of children living in poverty said they “don’t feel useful” compared with 18% of wealthier children.

The proportion of poorer children who feel like a failure, 20%, is significantly higher than the proportion of children who are not in poverty, 14%.

The charity warned that a projected rise in child poverty could lead to an increased demand for child and adolescent mental health services.

“Evidence shows that children who live in poverty are exposed to a range of risks that can have a serious impact on their mental health, including debt, poor housing and low income,” The Children’s Society chief executive Matthew Reed said.

Only one in 10 mental health trusts currently treats children in poverty as a priority group for access to mental health services, according to the report.

“Government and health trusts are failing to recognise children in poverty as a vulnerable group for mental health problems,” Mr Reed said.

“By cutting support for low income families the Government risks further entrenching the impact of poverty on the mental health of children across the country and perpetuating the cycle. It’s time children in poverty were given the support they need.”

The charity said counsellors should be available at schools to address the needs of young people facing a number of pressures, including those created by family poverty.

Last year research by The Children’s Society found that children with serious mental health problems had to wait 66 days on average, and up to five months in some cases, to access help.

Our Aims: About Us

To support users and ex-users of psychiatric services in the Manchester area. The organisation provides a forum for services users to have a bona fide say in planning and provision of mental health services.

Protesters in King’s Lynn fight against mental health service cuts

Protesters took to the streets of King’s Lynn to voice their anger at what they described as “continuous” cutbacks to mental health services in west Norfolk.

Mental health cuts protest

A protest march against cuts to mental health services and the Fermoy Unit at the QEH took place in King's Lynn town centre. Picture: Matthew Usher.

More than 100 campaigners marched from The Walks through the town centre before finishing outside the Majestic Cinema.

Peter Smith, former parliamentary candidate for south-west Norfolk said: “We are in the fight of our lives here.”

The protest was triggered by the Fermoy Unit, an in-patient NHS facility in Lynn for mental health, which campaigners say faces an uncertain future. The unit was briefly closed to new admissions earlier this month, but reopened last week, albeit with fewer beds.

Mr Smith said: “In my lifetime we have never had to fight like this, but what is the alternative?”

But Debbie White, director of operations for Norfolk at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said there were now no plans to axe the Fermoy Unit.

She added: “It is right that mental health services should be valued and funded on the same level as acute health services, and it is understandable people feel passionate about the Fermoy Unit remaining open.”

Labour party activist Jo Rust insisted the issue would not disappear. She said: “They have been talking about closing it for a long time. We will fight and we will not let them do that.”

Beth Anthony, 18 of Dersingham, said: “We are here to protest against the continuous cuts to the mental health service, we think it’s unacceptable. My younger brother suffers from poor mental health and has to travel to London... That is to the detriment of my family because we have to pay for him to go down by train every single month.”